Fecal Incontinence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Fecal Incontinence - Essay ExampleThey become confined and prefer to pass the day very close to the toilet to avoid losing feces. The exact incidence of FI is uncertain because of patients hesitation to seek help from their physicians. Women seem to be at higher risk, mostly due to obstetric damage to the anal sphincters however, during the last decade, an increasing interest has been dedicated to those forms of FI related to nontraumatic factors, which reach a pertinent incidence (Bharucha, 2003). Older subjects atomic number 18 at very high risk, especially those with disabilities and those who are institutionalized. Moreover, young people are a lot affected. These factors create a pregnant economic impact for society, non only due to direct and indirect costs, but also due to intangible costs. FI may result from a mixing of pathophysiological situations, and various risk factors can cause a wide range of inability to control feces passage. Therefore, an accurate diagnostic workup of each patient is fundamental. Although not fully agreed upon by all physicians, a multimodal diagnosis, using a multiparametric evaluation, seems to allow the most thorough understanding of FI pathophysiology and to indicate optimal treatment. These are really the most important and challenging aspects of FI management. Indeed, a wide range of therapeutic options is available, including conservative, rehabilitative, and surgical procedures. Highly variable rates of defecatory dysfunction and fecal incontinence live with been reported, which most likely reflects the heterogeneity of the populations studied, the use of non-standardized questionnaires, a variety of definitions in terms of frequency of defecation or fecal loss, and patient reluctance to go bad these potentially embarrassing problems. Aging has been consistently identified as a major risk factor for the development of fecal incontinence, and the prevalence has been reported to glide slope 50% in nursing home residents (Cook and Mortensen 2002). A recent study of more than 3,000 community-dwelling women found a population-adjusted prevalence of 7.7% when fecal incontinence was defined as loss of liquid or solid stool at least monthly. The prevalence of fecal incontinence increased linearly with age (Melville et al., 2005). umpteen patients are reluctant to seek medical attention for bowel disorders because of embarrassment and social stigma. Primary care providers, including obstetricians and gynecologists, are therefore integral to the successful disclosure of much(prenominal) problems by routinely inquiring about bowel function during periodic health care visits.The Research ProblemThe problem with fecal incontinence is that it often goes undiagnosed and untreated in elderly patients mainly due to the social stigma attached to it. Not only are the patients reluctant to admit the problem, the physicians often fail to ask about the problem due to similar embarrassment that the patient s feel or due to the fact that they think the problem to be insignificant. In the older age groups this is particularly significant since it is common in them. Large population surveys have revealed that above age 65, the prevalence is 3% to 7%. Many elderly people are forced to get admitted into nursing homes due to this problem so much so that the prevalence is as high as 50% (Perry et al., 2002). As highlighted by Bharucha et al. (2005), the financial